The fact that so few of us read music suggests that it is hard to learn to read music notes. Why is this? To learn to read music notes, our brain needs to take the following steps:

Translate the position on the stave (lines) into a note name, say F, which corresponds to a white key. One white note higher is shown by the difference from a line to a gap, or vice versa.

Note whether there is a sharp or flat at the same level as that line or gap. If so, the key is no longer the white key associated with that line or gap, but the black key just to the right or left, and indented.

Translate the note we’ve found, say F sharp, into the correct key on the keyboard. This involves some algorithms such as knowing that C is the white note below the two black notes together, and running up the alphabet from there.

Work out which F sharp we need- i.e. what octave. The note pattern repeats each 12 keys, and so we need to know which of these we need. Another algorithm, such as middle C is the one to the left of the keyhole of the piano, and is the C on the line that sticks down below the stave (the other 5 lines).

Now look at the form of the note, whether it’s full, got a little tail, got a dot after it. Do some mental calculations to decide if it’s a note, half note, etc. Look at the time signature at the beginning of the line. Multiply the two numbers with some scale factors to estimate how long the key needs to stay held down, in seconds or fractions thereof.

Press the note we’ve worked out; hold it down for the time we’ve worked out.

Repeat for the next note, or count from this note the number of lines and gaps to the next not forgetting to check for sharps and flats in which case go for the black note.

Clearly, it is possible to become very proficient at this, so that it becomes unconscious. We believe that a very small percentage of beginner musicians ever get close to that. This follows from the fact that most children get some start in music education at school, but very, very few can play an instrument at adulthood, and even less learn to read music notes.